NR user equipment (UE) power savings reporting and configuration

The present invention generally relates to wireless communication networks, and particularly relates to improvements to user equipment (UE) energy consumption when operating in such networks.

Generally, all terms used herein are to be interpreted according to their ordinary meaning in the relevant technical field, unless a different meaning is clearly given and/or is implied from the context in which it is used. All references to a/an/the element, apparatus, component, means, step, etc. are to be interpreted openly as referring to at least one instance of the element, apparatus, component, means, step, etc., unless explicitly stated otherwise. The steps of any methods and/or procedures disclosed herein do not have to be performed in the exact order disclosed, unless a step is explicitly described as following or preceding another step and/or where it is implicit that a step must follow or precede another step. Any feature of any of the embodiments disclosed herein can be applied to any other embodiment, wherever appropriate. Likewise, any advantage of any of the embodiments can apply to any other embodiments, and vice versa. Other objectives, features and advantages of the enclosed embodiments will be apparent from the following description.

Long-Term Evolution (LTE is an umbrella term for so-called fourth-generation (4G) radio access technologies developed within the Third-Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) and initially standardized in Releases 8 and 9, also known as Evolved UTRAN (E-UTRAN). LTE is targeted at various licensed frequency bands and is accompanied by improvements to non-radio aspects commonly referred to as System Architecture Evolution (SAE), which includes Evolved Packet Core (EPC) network. LTE continues to evolve through subsequent releases that are developed according to standards-setting processes with 3GPP and its working groups (WGs), including the Radio Access Network (RAN) WG, and sub-working groups (e.g., RAN1, RAN2, etc.).

LTE Release 10 (Rel-10) supports bandwidths larger than 20 MHz. One important requirement on Rel-10 is to assure backward compatibility with LTE Release-8. This should also include spectrum compatibility. As such, a wideband LTE Rel-10 carrier (e.g., wider than 20 MHz) should appear as a number of carriers to an LTE Rel-8 (“legacy”) terminal. Each such carrier can be referred to as a Component Carrier (CC). For an efficient use of a wide carrier also for legacy terminals, legacy terminals can be scheduled in all parts of the wideband LTE Rel-10 carrier. One exemplary way to achieve this is by means of Carrier Aggregation (CA), whereby a Rel-10 terminal can receive multiple CCs, each preferably having the same structure as a Rel-8 carrier. Similarly, one of the enhancements in LTE Rel-11 is an enhanced Physical Downlink Control Channel (ePDCCH), which has the goals of increasing capacity and improving spatial reuse of control channel resources, improving inter-cell interference coordination (ICIC), and supporting antenna beamforming and/or transmit diversity for control channel.

An overall exemplary architecture of a network comprising LTE and SAE is shown in. E-UTRANcomprises one or more evolved Node B's (eNB), such as eNBs,, and, and one or more user equipment (UE), such as UE. As used within 3GPP specifications, “user equipment” (or “UE”) can refer to any wireless communication device (e.g., smartphone or computing device) that is capable of communicating with 3GPP-standard-compliant network equipment, including E-UTRAN and earlier-generation RANs (e.g., UTRAN/“3G” and/or GERAN/“2G”) as well as later-generation RANs in some cases.

As specified by 3GPP, E-UTRANis responsible for all radio-related functions in the network, including radio bearer control, radio admission control, radio mobility control, scheduling, and dynamic allocation of resources to UEs in uplink (UL) and downlink (DL), as well as security of the communications with the UE. These functions reside in the eNBs, such as eNBs,, and, which communicate with each other via an X1 interface. The eNBs also are responsible for the E-UTRAN interface to EPC, specifically the S1 interface to the Mobility Management Entity (MME) and the Serving Gateway (SGW), shown collectively as MME/S-GWsandin.

In general, the MME/S-GW handles both the overall control of the UE and data flow between UEs (such as UE) and the rest of the EPC. More specifically, the MME processes the signaling (e.g., control plane, CP) protocols between UEs and EPC, which are known as the Non-Access Stratum (NAS) protocols. The S-GW handles all Internet Protocol (IP) data packets (e.g., user plane, UP) between UEs and EPC, and serves as the local mobility anchor for the data bearers when a UE moves between eNBs, such as eNBs,, and.

EPCcan also include a Home Subscriber Server (HSS), which manages user- and subscriber-related information. HSScan also provide support functions in mobility management, call and session setup, user authentication and access authorization. The functions of HSScan be related to the functions of legacy Home Location Register (HLR) and Authentication Centre (AuC) functions or operations.

In some embodiments, HSScan communicate with a user data repository (UDR)—labelled EPC-UDRin—via a Ud interface. The EPC-UDRcan store user credentials after they have been encrypted by AuC algorithms. These algorithms are not standardized (i.e., vendor-specific), such that encrypted credentials stored in EPC-UDRare inaccessible by any other vendor than the vendor of HSS.

shows a high-level block diagram of an exemplary LTE architecture in terms of its constituent entities—UE, E-UTRAN, and EPC—and high-level functional division into the Access Stratum (AS) and the Non-Access Stratum (NAS).also illustrates two particular interface points, namely Uu (UE/E-UTRAN Radio Interface) and S1 (E-UTRAN/EPC interface), each using a specific set of protocols, i.e., Radio Protocols and S1 Protocols. Although not shown in, each of the protocol sets can be further segmented into user plane and control plane protocol functionality. The user and control planes are also referred to as U-plane and C-plane, respectively. On the Uu interface, the U-plane carries user information (e.g., data packets) while the C-plane carries control information between UE and E-UTRAN.

illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary C-plane protocol stack on the Uu interface comprising Physical (PHY), Medium Access Control (MAC), Radio Link Control (RLC), Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP), and Radio Resource Control (RRC) layers. The PHY layer is concerned with how and what characteristics are used to transfer data over transport channels on the LTE radio interface. The MAC layer provides data transfer services on logical channels, maps logical channels to PHY transport channels, and reallocates PHY resources to support these services. The RLC layer provides error detection and/or correction, concatenation, segmentation, and reassembly, reordering of data transferred to or from the upper layers. The PHY, MAC, and RLC layers perform identical functions for both the U-plane and the C-plane. The PDCP layer provides ciphering/deciphering and integrity protection for both U-plane and C-plane, as well as other functions for the U-plane such as header compression.

The RRC layer controls communications between a UE and an eNB at the radio interface, as well as the mobility of a UE between cells in the E-UTRAN. In general, there are two primary RRC states for a UE. After the UE is powered ON it will be in the RRC_IDLE state until an RRC connection is established, at which time it will transition to RRC_CONNECTED state where data transfer can occur. After an RRC connection is released, the UE returns to RRC_IDLE. In RRC_IDLE state, the UE's radio is active on a discontinuous reception (DRX) schedule configured by upper layers. During DRX active periods, an RRC_IDLE UE receives system information (SI) broadcast by a serving cell, performs measurements of neighbor cells to support cell reselection, and monitors a paging channel on PDCCH for pages from the EPC via eNB. An RRC_IDLE UE is known in the EPC and has an assigned IP address, but is not known to the serving eNB (e.g., there is no stored context).

shows a block diagram of an exemplary LTE radio interface protocol architecture from the perspective of the PHY layer. The interfaces between the various layers are provided by Service Access Points (SAPs), indicated by the ovals in. The PHY layer interfaces with the MAC and RRC protocol layers described above. The PHY, MAC, and RRC are also referred to as Layers 1-3, respectively, in the figure. The MAC provides different logical channels to the RLC protocol layer (also described above), characterized by the type of information transferred, whereas the PHY provides a transport channel to the MAC, characterized by how the information is transferred over the radio interface. In providing this transport service, the PHY performs various functions including error detection and correction; rate-matching and mapping of the coded transport channel onto physical channels; power weighting, modulation, and demodulation of physical channels; transmit diversity; and beamforming multiple input multiple output (MIMO) antenna processing. The PHY layer also receives control information (e.g., commands) from RRC and provides various information to RRC, such as radio measurements.

Generally speaking, a physical channel corresponds a set of resource elements carrying information that originates from higher layers. Downlink (i.e., eNB to UE) physical channels provided by the LTE PHY include Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH), Physical Multicast Channel (PMCH), Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH), Relay Physical Downlink Control Channel (R-PDCCH), Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH), Physical Control Format Indicator Channel (PCFICH), and Physical Hybrid ARQ Indicator Channel (PHICH). In addition, the LTE PHY downlink includes various reference signals, synchronization signals, and discovery signals.

PDSCH is the main physical channel used for unicast downlink data transmission, but also for transmission of RAR (random access response), certain system information blocks, and paging information. PBCH carries the basic system information, required by the UE to access the network. PDCCH is used for transmitting downlink control information (DCI), mainly scheduling decisions, required for reception of PDSCH, and for uplink scheduling grants enabling transmission on PUSCH.

Uplink (i.e., UE to eNB) physical channels provided by the LTE PHY include Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH), Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH), and Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH). In addition, the LTE UL PHY includes various reference signals including demodulation reference signals (DM-RS), which are transmitted to aid the eNB in the reception of an associated PUCCH or PUSCH; and sounding reference signals (SRS), which are not associated with any uplink channel.

The multiple access scheme for the LTE PHY is based on Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) with a cyclic prefix (CP) in the downlink, and on Single-Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) with a cyclic prefix in the uplink. To support transmission in paired and unpaired spectrum, the LTE PHY supports both Frequency Division Duplexing (FDD) (including both full- and half-duplex operation) and Time Division Duplexing (TDD).shows an exemplary radio frame structure (“type 1”) used for LTE FDD downlink (DL) operation. The DL radio frame has a fixed duration of 10 ms and consists of 20 slots, labeled 0 through 19, each with a fixed duration of 0.5 ms. A 1-ms subframe comprises two consecutive slots where subframe i consists of slots 2i and 2i+1. Each exemplary FDD DL slot consists of NOFDM symbols, each of which is comprised of NOFDM subcarriers. Exemplary values of Ncan be 7 (with a normal CP) or 6 (with an extended-length CP) for subcarrier spacing (SCS) of 15 kHz. The value of Nis configurable based upon the available channel bandwidth. Since persons of ordinary skill in the art are familiar with the principles of OFDM, further details are omitted in this description.

As shown in, a combination of a particular subcarrier in a particular symbol is known as a resource element (RE). Each RE is used to transmit a particular number of bits, depending on the type of modulation and/or bit-mapping constellation used for that RE. For example, some REs may carry two bits using QPSK modulation, while other REs may carry four or six bits using 16- or 64-QAM, respectively. The radio resources of the LTE PHY are also defined in terms of physical resource blocks (PRBs). A PRB spans Nsub-carriers over the duration of a slot (i.e., Nsymbols), where Nis typically either 12 (with a 15-kHz sub-carrier bandwidth) or 24 (7.5-kHz bandwidth). A PRB spanning the same Nsubcarriers during an entire subframe (i.e., 2Nsymbols) is known as a PRB pair. Accordingly, the resources available in a subframe of the LTE PHY DL comprise NPRB pairs, each of which comprises 2N·NREs. For a normal CP and 15-KHz SCS, a PRB pair comprises 168 REs.

One exemplary characteristic of PRBs is that consecutively numbered PRBs (e.g., PRBand PRB) comprise consecutive blocks of subcarriers. For example, with a normal CP and 15-KHz sub-carrier bandwidth, PRBcomprises sub-carrier 0 through 11 while PRBcomprises sub-carriers 12 through 23. The LTE PHY resource also can be defined in terms of virtual resource blocks (VRBs), which are the same size as PRBs but may be of either a localized or a distributed type. Localized VRBs can be mapped directly to PRBs such that VRB ncorresponds to PRB n=n. On the other hand, distributed VRBs may be mapped to non-consecutive PRBs according to various rules, such as described in 3GPP TS 36.213. However, the term “PRB” shall be used in this disclosure to refer to both physical and virtual resource blocks. Moreover, the term “PRB” will be used herein to refer to a resource block for the duration of a subframe, i.e., a PRB pair, unless otherwise specified.

shows an exemplary LTE FDD uplink (UL) radio frame configured in a similar manner as the exemplary FDD DL radio frame shown in. Using terminology consistent with the above DL description, each UL slot consists of NOFDM symbols, each of which is comprised of NOFDM subcarriers.

As discussed above, the LTE PHY maps the various DL and UL physical channels to the resources shown in, respectively. For example, the PHICH carries HARQ feedback (e.g., ACK/NAK) for UL transmissions by the UEs. Similarly, PDCCH carries downlink control information (DCI) including scheduling assignments for PDSCH, grants for PUSCH and PUCCH, channel quality feedback (e.g., channel state information, CSI) for the UL channel, and other control information. DCI is typically transmitted in the first n OFDM symbols in each subframe, which is known as the control region. The number n(=1, 2, 3 or 4) is known as the Control Format Indicator (CFI) and is provided by the PCFICH transmitted in the first symbol of the control region.

Likewise, a PUCCH carries UL control information (UCI) such as scheduling requests (SR), CSI for the DL channel, HARQ feedback for PDSCH transmissions, and other control information. Both PDCCH and PUCCH can be transmitted on aggregations of one or several consecutive control channel elements (CCEs), and a CCE is mapped to the physical resource based on resource element groups (REGs), each of which is comprised of a plurality of REs. For example, a CCE can comprise nine (9) REGs, each of which can comprise four (4) REs.

illustrates one exemplary manner in which the CCEs and REGs can be mapped to a physical resource, e.g., PRBs. As shown in, the REGs comprising the CCEs of the PDCCH can be mapped into the first three symbols of a subframe, whereas the remaining symbols are available for other physical channels, such as PDSCH or PUSCH that carry user data. In the exemplary arrangement shown in, each REG comprises four REs, which are represented by the small, dashed-line rectangles. Although two CCEs are shown in, the number of CCEs may vary depending on the required PDCCH capacity, which can be determined based on number of users, amount of measurements and/or control signaling, etc. On the uplink, PUCCH can be configured similarly.

In LTE, DL transmissions are dynamically scheduled, i.e., in each subframe the base station transmits control information indicating the terminal to which data is transmitted and upon which resource blocks the data is transmitted, in the current downlink subframe. This control signaling is typically transmitted in the first n OFDM symbols in each subframe and the number n (=1, 2, 3 or 4) is known as the Control Format Indicator (CFI) indicated by the PCFICH transmitted in the first symbol of the control region.

In 3GPP, a study item on a new radio interface for 5G has recently been completed and 3GPP has now continued with the effort to standardize this new radio interface, often abbreviated by NR (New Radio). While LTE was primarily designed for user-to-user communications, 5G/NR networks are envisioned to support both high single-user data rates (e.g., 1 Gb/s) and large-scale, machine-to-machine communication involving short, bursty transmissions from many different devices that share the frequency bandwidth.

Similar to LTE, NR uses CP-OFDM (Cyclic Prefix Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) in the downlink and both CP-OFDM and DFT-spread OFDM (DFT-S-OFDM) in the uplink. Also similar to LTE, NR DL and UL physical resources are organized into equally-sized, time-domain subframes of 1 ms each, with each subframe further divided into multiple slots of equal duration, and with each slot including multiple OFDM-based symbols.

In both LTE and NR, a UE in RRC_CONNECTED state monitors PDCCH for DL scheduling assignments (e.g., for PDSCH), UL resource grants (e.g., for PUSCH), and for other purposes. Depending on discontinuous reception (DRX) configuration, in both LTE and NR, a UE may spend a substantial part of its energy on decoding PDCCH without detecting a DL scheduling assignment or UL resource grant directed to it. Accordingly, techniques that can reduce unnecessary PDCCH monitoring, allow a UE to go to sleep more often, and/or allow a UE to wake up less frequently can be beneficial.

Embodiments of the present disclosure provide specific improvements to communication between user equipment (UE) and network nodes in a wireless communication network, such as by facilitating solutions to overcome exemplary problems, issues, or drawbacks briefly mentioned above and described further below.

Some embodiments of the present disclosure include exemplary methods (e.g., procedures) for reporting user equipment (UE) energy consumption information to a network node in a radio access network (RAN). The exemplary methods can be performed by a user equipment (UE, e.g., wireless device, IoT device, modem, etc. or component thereof) in communication with the network node (e.g., base stations, eNBs, gNBs, etc., or components thereof) in the RAN (e.g., E-UTRAN, NG-RAN).

These exemplary methods can include acquiring a set of candidate configurations. For example, the UE can receive the set of candidate configurations from the network node, e.g., in an RRC message, downlink control information (DCI), MAC control element (CE), etc. In some embodiments, the network node can also provide a reference traffic type that is common to all candidate configurations of the set. Each candidate configuration of the set can include various settings and/or parameters associated with UE and/or network operation.

In some embodiments, these exemplary methods can also include indicating, to the network node, the configurations that the UE supports (i.e., UE-supported configurations). This can be done, for example, by sending one of the following to the network: a PHY message (e.g., UCI), a MAC message (e.g., buffer status report (BSR), power headroom report (PHR), control element (CE), etc.), an RRC message via PUSCH, etc. In such embodiments, the set of candidate configurations acquired can be a subset of the UE-supported configurations indicated to the network node.

These exemplary methods can also include determining UE energy consumption information related to the set of candidate configurations. The determined UE energy consumption information can include at least one of the following: respective energy consumption metrics associated with one or more of the candidate configurations, and a relative priority of the candidate configurations with regards to UE energy consumption.

Determining the UE energy consumption information can include analyzing the acquired set of candidate configurations based on information stored in the UE, which can be pre-configured (e.g., by the UE or chipset manufacturer), provided by the network (e.g., via RRC), etc. The UE can also base the determination and/or analysis on information relating to the UE's current operating conditions, capabilities, and/or limitations. The various information used in the determination and/or analysis can include any combination of data, tables, equations, relationships, thresholds, etc. that relate the parameter settings comprising the configurations to an estimate of UE energy consumption. In some embodiments, such operations can be augmented by cloud computing techniques whereby the UE can request information from a device management server (e.g., operated by device or OS vendor) to use in performing the operations, or could request such a server to actually perform the operations and return the determined metrics to the UE.

In some embodiments, the UE can determine a relative priority of the candidate configurations with regards to UE energy consumption. In some of these embodiments, the UE can determine the respective energy consumption metrics associated with the respective candidate configurations, then determine the relative priority based on the determined metrics. In other embodiments, however, the UE can determine the relative priority based on different metrics and/or computations, e.g., instead of or in addition to any energy consumption metrics determined. The determined relative priority of the configurations can be expressed in various ways.

These exemplary methods can also include reporting at least a portion of the UE energy consumption information to the network node. For example, the UE can report this information in a PHY message (e.g., UCI), MAC message (e.g., embedded in BSR, PHR, CE, etc.), RRC message via PUSCH, etc. The UE energy consumption can be reported in various formats and/or metrics, according to various embodiments. In some embodiments, these exemplary methods can also include receiving, from the network node, one or more reporting requirements related to the UE energy consumption information. The reporting format, frequency, etc. used by the UE can be based on these received reporting requirements.

Other embodiments of the present disclosure include exemplary methods (e.g., procedures) for scheduling a user equipment (UE) based on UE energy consumption information. These exemplary methods can be performed by a network node (e.g., base station, eNB, gNB, etc., or component thereof) of a radio access network (RAN, e.g., E-UTRAN, NG-RAN).

These exemplary methods can include sending the UE a set of candidate configurations. For example, the network node can send the set of candidate configurations to the UE, e.g., in an RRC message, DCI, MAC message, etc. In some embodiments, these exemplary methods can also include receiving, from the UE, an indication of UE-supported configurations. This can be done, for example, via any of the following: a PHY message (e.g., UCI), MAC message (e.g., buffer status report (BSR), power headroom report (PHR), control element (CE), etc.), RRC message via PUSCH, etc. In such embodiments, the set of candidate configurations sent to the UE can be a subset of the supported configurations received from the UE.

These exemplary methods can also include receiving, from the UE, UE energy consumption information related to the set of candidate configurations. The UE energy consumption information can include respective energy consumption metrics associated with one or more of the candidate configurations, and/or a relative priority of the candidate configurations with regards to UE energy consumption. The UE energy consumption can be received in various formats and/or metrics, according to various embodiments. In some embodiments, these exemplary methods can also include sending, to the UE, one or more reporting requirements related to the UE energy consumption information. The reporting format, frequency, etc. used by the UE can be based on these provided reporting requirements.

These exemplary methods can also include selecting a particular candidate configuration (i.e., from the set provided to the UE) based on the received UE energy consumption information. In some embodiments, selecting the particular candidate configuration can also be based on at least one of the following: UE energy consumption information received from other UEs, the network node's current resource scheduling status, and known or expected upcoming resource scheduling requirements (e.g., for the UE or for other UEs).

In some embodiments, if the UE reports energy consumption metrics associated with respective configurations, the network node can select a particular one of the configurations whose associated metric meets one or more criteria. In some of these embodiments, the network node can select the configuration whose associated energy consumption metric is best among the energy consumption metrics received from the UE. In other embodiments, if the report includes relative priorities of the candidate configurations, the network node can select the candidate configuration whose relative priority is highest.

In other embodiments, the network node can separate the set of candidate configurations into first and second subsets based on a threshold (e.g., an energy consumption reduction threshold or a relative priority threshold). The network node can then select, from either the first or second subset, a candidate configuration that is preferred for network resource scheduling. For example, the network node can select a candidate configuration whose energy consumption metric is better than a threshold of acceptability (i.e., “acceptable”), but is preferred among those configurations with acceptable metrics from the perspective of network resource scheduling.

These exemplary methods can also include scheduling the UE according to the selected configuration.

Other embodiments include user equipment (UEs, e.g., wireless devices, IoT devices, etc. or components thereof) and network nodes (e.g., base stations, eNBs, gNBs, CUs/DUs, controllers, etc. or components thereof) configured to perform operations corresponding to any of the exemplary methods described herein. Other embodiments include non-transitory, computer-readable media storing program instructions that, when executed by processing circuitry, configure such UEs of network nodes to perform operations corresponding to any of the exemplary methods described herein.

These and other objects, features, and advantages of the embodiments of the present disclosure will become apparent upon reading the following Detailed Description in view of the Drawings briefly described below.

Some of the embodiments contemplated herein will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings. Other embodiments, however, are contained within the scope of the subject matter disclosed herein, the disclosed subject matter should not be construed as limited to only the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided by way of example to convey the scope of the subject matter to those skilled in the art. Furthermore, the following terms are used throughout the description given below:

Note that the description given herein focuses on a 3GPP cellular communications system and, as such, 3GPP terminology or terminology similar to 3GPP terminology is oftentimes used. However, the concepts disclosed herein are not limited to a 3GPP system. Other wireless systems, including without limitation Wide Band Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax), Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB) and Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), may also benefit from the concepts, principles, and/or embodiments described herein.

In addition, functions and/or operations described herein as being performed by a wireless device or a network node may be distributed over a plurality of wireless devices and/or network nodes. Furthermore, although the term “cell” is used herein, it should be understood that (particularly with respect to 5G NR) beams may be used instead of cells and, as such, concepts described herein apply equally to both cells and beams.

As briefly mentioned above, in both LTE and NR, a UE in RRC_CONNECTED state monitors PDCCH for DL scheduling assignments (e.g., for PDSCH), UL resource grants (e.g., for PUSCH), and for other purposes. Depending on discontinuous reception (DRX) configuration, a UE may spend a substantial part of its energy on decoding PDCCH without detecting a DL scheduling assignment or UL resource grant in both LTE and NR. These issues, drawbacks, and/or problems are discussed in more detail below, along with various novel techniques that can reduce unnecessary PDCCH monitoring, allow UE to go to sleep more often, and/or allow the UE to wake up less frequently can be beneficial.

While LTE was primarily designed for user-to-user communications, 5G (also referred to as “NR”) cellular networks are envisioned to support both high single-user data rates (e.g., 1 Gb/s) and large-scale, machine-to-machine communication involving short, bursty transmissions from many different devices that share the frequency bandwidth. The 5G radio standards (also referred to as “New Radio” or “NR”) are currently targeting a wide range of data services including eMBB (enhanced Mobile Broad Band), URLLC (Ultra-Reliable Low Latency Communication), and Machine-Type Communications (MTC). These services can have different requirements and objectives. For example, URLLC is intended to provide a data service with extremely strict error and latency requirements, e.g., error probabilities as low as 10or lower and 1 ms end-to-end latency or lower. For eMBB, the requirements on latency and error probability can be less stringent whereas the required supported peak rate and/or spectral efficiency can be higher. In contrast, URLLC requires low latency and high reliability but with less strict data rate requirements.

In Rel-15 NR, a UE can be configured with up to four carrier bandwidth parts (BWPs) in the DL with a single DL carrier BWP being active at a given time. A UE can also be configured with up to four UL carrier BWPs with a single UL carrier BWP being active at a given time. If a UE is configured with a supplementary UL, the UE can be configured with up to four additional carrier BWPs in the supplementary UL, with a single supplementary UL carrier BWP being active at a given time.